Czech Republic - Needs to match potential with execution

The Czech Republic delivers a moderate performance on the Connectivity Scorecard 2010 but manages to overtake more affluent Italy and Spain. The country impresses with its progress in areas such as consumer infrastructure and therefore shows considerable promise.

While broadband penetration among households is relatively modest, the average actual download speeds are high compared to most of Europe. Good business broadband uptake and high tele-density in the enterprise sector prop up its score in business usage and skills, but relatively modest business spending on IT services and low proportion of skilled workers in its job market somewhat offset the benefits. Performance on government-related metrics is modest.

The Czech Republic displays weak consumer usage and skills however. Here, the country is let down by low frequency of internet usage and below-par voice and SMS usage. Business infrastructure in the country suffers from low penetration of PCs and of secure internet servers.

The Czech Republic needs to boost investments in other ICT infrastructure, in the same way it has done with advanced broadband infrastructure, as well as drive usage among different user segments. It will then be able to truly realize it’s potential.

Czech Republic Connectivity Performance by Scorecard Component